In recent years, the idea of DLC, or downloadable content, has changed. These days, it refers to cosmetics like new outfits or weapon skins that sometimes cost up to twenty dollars each. It’s a far cry from what DLC represented in its inception – new story expansions that come with new narratives, worlds, gameplay changes and more. Because of this, I’d like to go through some of gaming’s best DLC. These are ones that defined what DLC can truly be, and how they’ve influenced DLC released in the modern day.
Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare
Undead Nightmare is a non canon story to the original Red Dead Redemption, developed and published by Rockstar games. As you may guess from the title, this DLC revolves around zombies. In this timeline, the protagonist John Marston has to find the cure for a zombie virus that’s infected his wife and son. The game’s atmosphere resembles a B-movie horror film, with stereotypical haunted environments, music and enemies. It’s also way more lighthearted in tone. It leans into campiness that pokes fun at the absurdity of a zombie apocalypse instead of trying to genuinely scare the player.
But even though the atmosphere is less serious, Rockstar didn’t skimp on the gameplay. This starts from the zombies themselves. Some spew toxic green venom, while others that run towards John if he gets too close. He has new weapons like holy water and a blunderbuss that you can load up with zombie parts to give the undead a taste of their own medicine. Zombies can even infect NPCs and turn them into zombies that will then try to attack you if you aren’t careful. Side objectives like liberating gang hideouts has turned into destroying cemeteries. You can even hunt mythical creatures like the Sasquatch and a unicorn! Undead Nightmare moves away from the gritty, realistic tone of the original game to one that prioritizes fun. If you like zombie games and want to feel like you’re in the middle of a B movie, Undead Nightmare is a perfect experience.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
You know what I just said about campiness? Well, Blood Dragon takes the original game and drenches it in an 80s neon futuristic aesthetic. It’s what people in the 80s thought the future would be like, rather than a “realistic” viewpoint. You play as Sergeant Rex “Power” Colt, in a dystopian 2007 where the world is recovering from the aftermath of a nuclear war. Along with your partner, you investigate an elite agent from the US government who’s gone rogue. This agent, Sloan, wants to revert the world to a prehistoric state by using blood from “blood dragons” roaming an unnamed island. They’re prehistoric creatures that shoot atomic lasers and glow neon colors. If what you just read sounds absurd, that’s the point. The game presents this absurd premise that everyone in-game takes completely serious.
Rex himself speaks almost entirely in cheesy one liners ripped straight from classic 80s action movies. He isn’t fazed by anything on the island. Instead, he shoots first and asks questions later. And you can shoot the titular blood dragons, along with cybersharks and mutated cassowaries. The island is covered in different shades of neon, while collectibles are scattered throughout the island in VHS tapes and CRT TVs. If you want, you can lead the blood dragons to enemy camps and have them terrorize the inhabitants. There’s n, othing quite like watching a giant glowing red dinosaur destroy swarms of grunts with laser beams and gobbling them up in giant bites. Just like Undead Nightmare, Blood Dragon goes all in on a particular concept. It ramps up the fun factor as much as possible to create an experience you’ll be hard pressed to find elsewhere.
Lies Of P Overture
Last but certainly not least, we have Lies of P Overture. This DLC released in 2025, and unlike Blood Dragon and Undead Nightmare, its story is connected to the base game. Pinocchio travels back in time to uncover how famed Legendary Stalker Lea Florence Nomad disappeared. It’s set before the Puppet Frenzy but after the outbreak of the Petrification Disease. The DLC reveals the disease’s origin and provides backstory on the Alchemists. And most importantly of all, it features the best villain in the entire game, Arlecchino.
Overture features the same gameplay formula of the base game, where you explore an area and fight bosses at the end. Locations range from the Krat Zoo to the Monad Charity House, an orphanage mentioned throughout the entire game. New features such as the addition of the freeze effect spice up the experience. There’s even a bow, which is a completely new type of weapon. Enemy variety is off the charts, from mutated animals to mining robots that don’t enjoy you being in their turf. Each area has different side paths, some of which twist and turn until they arrive in a different part of an area you’ve already been in.
To top it all off, there are the bosses. Even the “worst” one, the Tyrannical Predator, is good, as an enormous mutated crocodile that can literally eat you. Then there’s Arlecchino, a murderous, eight foot tall puppet complete with saw blades and swords for limbs. He has the best voice acting in the entire game, and a terrifying presence that amplifies his reputation. Lies of P Overture is more of the base game, along with a more focused, complete story and a villain that steals the show. It’s proof that even in the era of microtransations, there are still developers out there that value creating fun, memorable experiences over squeezing out as much money from the player base as possible, and it’s a goal I wholeheartedly support.
